Large blue butterfly to be reintroduced into the Cotswolds

Large blue butterfly caterpillars will be released at a secret location in the Cotswolds.

June 2010. The globally endangered Large blue butterfly is to be reintroduced into the Cotswolds in July, with ecology experts believing the process of global warming will help it to survive. Hundreds of caterpillars will be released at two secret Cotswold locations in an attempt to boost the population of the large blue butterfly.

So far, scientists have only managed to set up colonies of the butterfly in Somerset, with other areas of the country failing, probably because it is too cold.

"We have had a warming climate and although we have cooler years in between, it seems the Cotswolds are becoming more suitable," Professor Jeremy Thomas of Oxford University said.

Extinct in the UK in 1979
The species became extinct in the UK in 1979 before conservationists succeeded in bringing it back in Somerset.